SALARIES OF MEMBERS

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 68, 14 December 1944, Page 6

SALARIES OF MEMBERS

The proposal to increase the salaries of members of Parliament on the lines recommended by the Select Committee appointed to review the provisions of the Civil List Act of 1920 is cei tain to be critically examined by the public, and this notwithstanding the unanimity of the House itself on the question. So far as the merits of the case are concerned, the claim that the present emoluments of members are inadequate in the circumstances of the times may be conceded. The duties of a member of Parliament today involve a greater expenditure of time and money than was the case in the past; the ratio of personal expenditure to Parliamentary income is correspondingly greater, especially in the case of members who live away from the seat of Government and in many instances have to maintain two homes. On a detached view there are reasonable grounds for the proposed increases. But the question cannot be altogether detached from the special conditions of wartime. These conditions have imposed economies and sacrifices of all kinds upon ,the public, and compelled the implementation of a policy of stabilizing wages, costs and prices. This policy, despite the anomalies created by the Governments indulgent and erratic method of applying it, nevertheless has affirmed an important principle for maintaining the equilibrium of the country s domestic economy. Already there is a good deal of unrest as the result of various concessions to powerful pressure groups seeking increases in violation of that principle. The dissatisfaction felt by others less favourably placed is likely to be intensified by the action of Parliament in voting at this time increases to itself. The impression most likely to be created in the public mind as a result will be that the measures proposed, apart from the intrinsic merits of the case, are ill-timed.